Articles

Magic & Memories: The Complete History of Dungeons & Dragons - Part IV

The reaction was explosive. Rather than dumbing the game down by placing it in a real-time context, BioWare had created one of the most faithful computer adaptations of the game ever produced. Beyond the game's combat engine, which faithfully modeled dozens of different weapons, the game simulated aspects of Dungeons & Dragons gameplay that had never been tried before. Dialogue choices reflected a character's statistics and alignment, and the game's party members actually had their own personalities and agendas that came out during the game. The game gave experience point credit for doing more than just killing monsters -- you also had to advance the storyline.

Critics ended up lavishing praise on the title, with review scores hovering in the low- to mid-90s. More importantly, fans spread the word of how good the game was, and copies of Baldur's Gate began flying off store shelves. In a curious mirror of Dungeons & Dragons own history, Baldur's Gate became something of a phenomena, spreading out beyond the core audience of computer RPG players. The game's real-time combat gameplay combined with its appearance on dozens of "Game of the Year" lists actually attracted a number of real-time strategy and action gamers, helping push the sales number ever farther into the stratosphere.

More importantly, developers realized that there was actually quite a bit of life left in the CRPG market. The two year slump had left the audience wide open for anyone willing to fill that void. Ultima Online, the first modern MMORPG, had debuted a year earlier to huge numbers as well as huge problems that scared off many companies, but the release and success of EverQuest just a few months later cemented the idea in publisher's minds.

It turned out that gamers weren't tired of Tolkienesque worlds filled with elves and orcs. The whole "slump" had been a spectacular illusion caused by people scrambling for explanations beyond the obvious of why poor products had resulted in poor sales. The decline of the paper and pencil Dungeons & Dragons game was merely tangible evidence that executives could point to in order to justify their own suppositions.

With companies scrambling to fulfill this badly underserved market, RPGs made a roaring comeback in 1999 and 2000, but none more so than Dungeons & Dragons. Baldur's Gate suddenly made Dungeons & Dragons cool again, reminding gamers why they had fallen in love with it, and moving it from "that game I used to play" to "that game that might be fun to pick up again." Some of the rust had fallen away from Dungeons & Dragons -- now it was up to Wizards of the Coast and the former TSR staffers to take advantage of what BioWare had given them.

Tomorrow: Part V - "Atari & Eberron." Version 3.0 hits the shelves and Atari steps in as the new custodian of the D&D video-game license.